World Environment Day 2013 Says
Think, Eat, Save

Brandon Sun “Small
World” Column, Monday, June 3 / 13Zack
Gross

World Environment Day (WED) takes place
every June 5th and the 2013 version has taken on the theme of Think.Eat.Save. The United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP) has organized WED annually since the first UN Conference on the
Human Environment, held in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. Does
anyone remember that Maurice Strong, born in Oak Lake, MB, was the
Executive Director of both the 1972 Conference and then the twenty-year
follow-up one in Rio, as well as the first Director General of UNEP?

The focus of “Think.Eat.Save” this year is on the tremendous waste of food that exists in our
world today and the enormous environmental footprint that humans leave
on our planet. The UN’s Food & Agriculture
Organization (FAO) estimates that 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted
or lost each year, the equivalent of all the food produced in
Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, one in seven people go
to bed hungry every night and 20,000 children under the age of five die
daily of hunger-related causes.

Global food production occupies
one-quarter of all habitable land, is responsible for 70% of our fresh
water consumption, leads to 80% of our deforestation and creates
one-third of our greenhouse gases. Thus, finding ways to
produce food with the least possible environmental impact and to
distribute it most equitably and efficiently would go a long way to
making our lives in the rich world more sustainable and lives in the
developing world more just. More buying locally and more
organic production have been cited as two positive steps by the UN.

The Global Host of World Environment Day
2013 is Mongolia which has one of the world’s fastest growing economies
and is taking positive, concrete steps to become a “Green
Economy.” Mongolia is facing challenges as a result of the
impacts of climate change, says the UN, with its mean temperature
having risen by two degrees Celsius and precipitation having decreased
markedly over the past 70 years.

Mongolia has introduced a
moratorium on new mining pending improved environmental regulations and
is looking at becoming an exporter of clean, renewable
energy. Coal use has created severe air pollution in
Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, leading to the levying of a pollution
tax and the setting up of new technologies. As well, to
combat desertification, youth have planted over two million trees in
arid regions since 2011.

The United Nations Environment Program
offers up many suggestions for WED-related activities and events on
June 5th. Certainly, many schools around the world are
already tuned in to this, due to the on-going commitment of their
teachers, parents, churches and community groups. Beyond the
celebrations, however, a year-round, life-long commitment is
necessary. Canadians in recent years have prioritized
environmental issues in the top three concerns that they
have. At the same time, though, North Americans continue to
be the most wasteful and polluting people on earth.

Some of the suggestions that the UN’s Celebrate WED website makes include citizens switching from private
to public transportation; growing vegetable gardens in yards, on
community land or even in a pot on one’s apartment’s window
sill; composting, recycling and reusing to give our resources
a second life; continuing to learn about ways to live more
appropriately in a finite world and to avoid using products that hurt
the natural environment; purchasing products that are
certified as forest stewardship, organic and fair trade; and,
finally, initiating or joining community eco-friendly projects.

On a global level, well-known scientists
and activists are joining the WED Think.Eat.Save campaign to work on a
variety of difficult, urgent issues. Vandana Shiva, from
India, a global leader of grassroots environmental movements and
big-picture thinking about our planet has targeted “Zero Waste as the
New Paradigm,” citing the terrible waste of food by retailers and
consumers. Luiz Carlos Iasbeck of Brazil is looking into the
management of the food system and the high prices that come with
environmental challenges and economic downturns.

Find a way to mark World Environment Day
this week, and keep it in mind as you tackle your daily life.
Our extra-large footprint on the planet comes more from
over-consumption than over-population and our wasteful habits indicate
that when you have “too much,” it is easy to be careless.Zack Gross works
for the Manitoba Council for International
Co-operation (MCIC), a
coalition of more than 40 international development organizations.